South Barrington may dump vehicle stickers

September 12, 2002|By John Keilman, Tribune staff reporter.

As other communities crack down on vehicle sticker scofflaws, South Barrington may decide Thursday to get rid of the decals.

The Village Board is scheduled to vote on whether to abolish the ordinance that requires each South Barrington vehicle to display a $10 sticker. Only two-thirds of them do, so officials must decide whether enforcing the ordinance is worth the expense and opposition.

Some trustees think the stickers aren't worth it.

"It's an inefficient and unfair revenue source from the standpoint that only residents pay it; businesses don't," said Trustee Todd Swim. "It's not cost-effective; you have to print the stickers, mail them out, follow up and then do enforcement.

"We don't want to be in the business of hounding people and stopping them on the street, so if someone chooses not to pay, enforcement is a problem."

If South Barrington eliminates its sticker, it will join suburbs that have abandoned the requirement.

Cash generated by casinos allowed Elgin and Joliet to stop requiring stickers. Hoffman Estates eliminated its sticker in 1996 in favor of a higher tax on telephone bills. Hanover Park replaced its sticker with a utility tax in May.

Stickers have never been popular among municipal finance directors, said Marianne Shank, executive director of the Illinois Government Finance Officers Association.

"Generally, finance directors find that the collection costs and frustrations don't make it one of the most productive taxes," she said. "There are substitutes that can raise the same amount of revenue without the same amount of frustration."

South Barrington trustees plan to vote on stickers, and if they decide to eliminate them, they'll vote whether to replace the money generated by stickers with a 1 percent increase in the local telephone tax.

If that happens, Village Administrator David Pierce said families who've paid for stickers should save a few dollars a year.

The vehicle sticker raises about $25,000 a year for the village's $3.6 million general fund budget--about $10,000 less than if every vehicle owner bought a sticker, Pierce said. The phone-tax increase would bring in about $34,000 a year.

"Everyone pays into it, not just half or two-thirds," Village President Frank Munao said.

Police check cars for the decals during traffic stops, said South Barrington Police Sgt. James Weidig. If there is no sticker, the officer issues a $25 ticket.

Some villages have aggressively pursued scofflaws. Last month, Des Plaines stopped cars at three roadblocks and handed out $25 tickets to 29 drivers who didn't have a $30 sticker. But protests from some residents and aldermen quickly ended the practice.

The proposed changes are not likely to affect people in a town where the median household income is more than $170,000, but resident Julie Christoffer, 34, said she was happy to learn she could save a few dollars under a new ordinance.